Savita Vs the State of Bharat

I could have made it a case against "The state of india" but keeping with the tradition set by Voice of India/Bharat, "Times of India", I had to name it state of Bharat. According to TOI, somehow, all the things that are progressive and worthy of emulation on the merit of modernity are quintessentially Indian, and all the things that lag behind (on account of being obsolete,on account of being a necessary evil aka tradition or on account of being simply poor) are bharat. That's why we had a poor girl from some town in rural Bharat crying, and her tears being wiped by a hand-ker-chief from the industrial India on the Budget edition. It seems for TOI a new synonym for underprivileged is Bharat. Never fancy a "Times of Bharat".....

Inspite of being an active member of the net community and regularly looking for spicy material to liven my otherwise boring daily routine, I could not get to know of "Savita Bhabhi" until recently, when to many's horror, Savita Bhabhi was banned from Indian Cyber Space. Too late for me to sex it up a little through cartoon porn, no no, Indian cartoon porn. I could get hold of a couple of articles on the net which ridiculed the government for banning the "Bhabhi" for a plethora of reasons. I agree with some, not so much with the others. One article justly says that the government has no right to play the "Net Nanny", and its upto the parents to take care of what their children with impressionable minds watch on the net. Adding to that the article also said that there was infinite amount of porn available anyway on the internet hosted on servers outside the purview of the indian rule.

What amused me to the core was this article from the TOI (anybody's guess)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS-Sunday-TOI-View-From-Venus-Savita-Bhabhi-is-dead-Long-live-Indian-hypocrisy/articleshow/4794372.cms

The article laments the hypocrisy so intertwined in the Indian bureaucracy that they cannot break free from it even if they so willed. All till here is fine. The fun part starts when the article quotes some sociologist from Delhi which I shall quote here verbatim

“To me, Savita Bhabhi was as if India, in spite of its coyness, had come of age" (Yawn-1)

And I thought women like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Aishwariya Rai and of course Mayawati would represent the Indian women if at any point in time India did in fact come of age. It seems that the country could have come of age a lot sooner if the creator of Savita Bhabhi, a certain someone, would have realized his tryst with destiny sooner. Alas !, the hero of our society and the channel to do so could'nt wake up earlier. The article also goes ahead and epitomizes the hypocricy in indian society by saying that we have khajoraho (Yawn-2) and thats why we should allow whatever we should allow. Thank God or the sculptors of Khajuraho, elsewise what examples would these socialites, I am sorry, sociologists and progressives cite.

Everybody needs to prove their point by some mean or the other. The ones taking the decisions got to indulge yet again in their self-righteousness by banning the loving (literally) bhabhi and the sociologists gotta prove theirs through remarks and examples as stark as the

sexcapades of the Bhabhi herself. No one seems to notice that not every band is floyd and not every woman living the ravenous, hypothetical, kick-those-MCPs-in-the-balls life is gonna emancipate the society in general and women in particular. Lets let the Bhabhi live for all the people who draw inspiration, gratification or whatever they want, and if she can not let her die.

Lets not make a martyr.

Tikait and Chaube

Today (Actually Y'day) two of my better friends left Bangalore for good. (I sure hope so!). A better friend is a one of the classifications I usually tend to classify things in. I have friends whom I won't mind saying a hello if I have to. ( I would try to avoid none-the-less). I have good friends whom I won't mind saying a hello. ( I would not try to avoid but neither would I make an effort). I have better friends whom I might give a call to say a hello on certain occasions and certainly would reply if they call. (Here again I would not try to avoid)

I don't believe in the Best friend Concept.

I along with Mama English don't believe in the desi concept of "Wo mera sabse best friend hai"

It was a regular party we had. Although I was a little irritated by the fellow "Party Animals" regularly leaving the table and going out for a smoke ( I can't smoke due to underlying health problems). Our fun was aggrandized by a certain person of a certain geographical location whom we call by a certain name, sitting in a certain position wearing certain clothes. But the idea behind the whole thing was that it was our last party together so we better have fun by whatever means we could. And we did. Some of us did try to establist contact with the certain person but as far as my knowledge or concern goes none could. The evening was followed with high voltage drama (aka Rona Dhona) by two of the animals which we all are mentally prepared for anyway. I usually don't involve in all this as generally I am too drunk to notice even 3 stitches on my upper lip. The regualr emotional jargon can not stimulate more than the doctor's needle piercing through my soft upper lip unless it comes from someone of the likes of Katrina Kaif.

But the Animals ain't no Katrina, so I ain't no stimulated !

The two finally left on the wednesday morning and Afternoon respectively and I wish them all the luck in their future.

Happy Birthday to you

Today is my birthday, like so many (hold on ! all ) others. I was congratulated by my roommate (only) as he is the person who lives with me and it would be rather weird if even he doesn't. Although he did confuse it with yesterday like one of my other acquaintances but to give both of us a little leeway I joked it off and so did he. I don't know where did my social skills take a bite because as far as I can remember I started with a lot of friends (here it means people who wish you on your birthday) but slowly they kept decreasing. And at 25 I have one person.

To wish one on one's birthday should be one of the primary reasons one should go for a roommate. (How many ones did I just write???) I am just happy that my parents and sister did'nt forget because then it would have left the weird zone and entered the rather unfortunate zone. But as far as parents and sisters/brothers are concerned their wishing actually doesn't count while calculating the social success you may think you have achieved. I classify social success into various distinct categories and its highly different from the one which would apply to a westerner given our highly conservative upbringing. And as here the primary key is birthday wishes I shall stick to it as the global parameter.

If you receive less than N+4 wishes (N is the number of roommates) you fall into category 3)

If you receive greater than or equal to N+4 but less than N+8 you fall into category 2

Anything more than that you are category 1 for sure.....

The categories are self explanatory. Category 3 means that you are ...well nothing to anyone else

Category 2 means that you know a couple of other category 2s

Category 1 means you are my role model.

In fact one of the popular reasons for people in the US/Europe cite to turn into Serial Killers/College Shooters/Rapists is that when they were young they did'nt have a birthday party or thier friends/family ran away on them or something.
I think I deserve to at least eve-tease if not rape considering I fall miserably in category 3. But the basic question still to be answered is what effect should it have upon my psyche. What the actual effect has been and why is an entirely different issue altogether. It should have bothered me that I don't even have one friend who would wish me compared to my roommate who actually spent 4 hrs on the phone just a few weeks back on and off. But i guess I have my expectations from life so low that that one call I later received from ICICI bank actually did lift my spirits!! This concept of having very low expectations has been derived over years of practice and has now been mastered by me and my friends ( I still call them friends) and now any upheaval smaller than AIDS would hardly make a difference. AIDS will make a difference because then I wouldn't get married and I don't want to die a ....., you know what :)
I want to write more but I am getting a call.... I might inch towards category 2 !!!!

Anything you may like

There are a couple of things that have been going around in my head for the past few days. Well since May 17th actually, the day when Congress came back to power with a thumping victory in the polls over the "Communal force" BJP. It is both a moment of relief and disappointment for me. Relief as there is no left to dictate its terms and no Dalit Ki Beti to lay claims to the post of PM just because she is a dalit ki beti. Disappointment as this election yet again proves the hangovers in Indian mindset that have been there for as long as history has been written. Since ages Indians have been ruled by one dynasty or another. Be it the Mauryas, the Mughals or the British. More than 20 centuries of dynasty rule has taken away whatever respect we could have had for ourselves. We have it ingrained in ourselves that there is someone who is born and destined to rule us better than we can. The earlier kings could do it, the British could do it better and now the Gandhis can do it better. Agreed that in those days the commons could'nt do much as they would have been quashed by force. But now when the power to vote in a democracy has been given to us we still choose to vote for the destined lot.
Even the most forward nation with the most ethnic and religious diversity has one clause in its constitution. "A natural born citizen can only be the President of the United States of America"
And that is a country which has a total history as old as any other temple in our country. But we , a country older and more continuous than history itself genuflect in front of a lady who did'nt even take the citizenship for a good 15 years after marrying Rajiv Gandhi. I am not questioning Sonia Gandhi or her intentions back then. What I am trying to say is that we should welcome all with open arms but there is a limit to which this welcome should be extended.
As far as the communal tag is concerned with BJP why should'nt Congress be called communal?
The oxford dictionary defines communal as "between different communities". What did Arjun Singh do if not pit the higher castes against the backward castes ? And what about "Indian Union Muslim League" that sits in the UPA? A party that has its very origin/existence in the name of a religion is not communal but a party that says that the roots of this country, not the majority religion, be respected is communal ? Ram they say is fictitious. I say who are they to tell me to question my belief. What proof is there for Mohammad or Jesus Christ to exist? The holy books and writings that go back in history. Why then should I accept the Ramayana as mythology and not history ? Just because the western philosohers can't verify it they deny it. And just because they deny it we can't accept it. The single biggest blot on the nationalistic party is Godhra which should be accepted and condemned. Why dosen't Congress come out in the open and accept 1984 Sikh killings.
Its just that this communal card is now so stale that I just switch the channel whenever the likes of Lalu, Mulayam and Mayawati repeat the god damned rhetoric over and over again. The people of India gave the BJP one chance and expected miracles in 5 years. It was like " these people create too much nuisance. Lets give them one chance. What ? after five years we are just respected the world over for being a nuclear power and Included in the G20? No No thats not enough. Lets all go back and bow to the Gods and Goddesses, Kings and Queens once again, Maybe till eternity.
Maybe thats the reason that even the cricket teams in the IPL are all royals, Knights and Kings as the fantasy dosen't seem to break.

Slumdog Millionaire....

The movie is good. No doubt. The scene where the youngest Jamaal jumps into shit holding the god's picture is both beautiful and disgusting at the same time. To some extent the magic tale seems believable also. I mean don't look at the story as an ordinary boy's extraordinary tale but look at it like an extraordinary tale with ordinary players. The movie begins with easily one of the better Rahman compositions of O ..Saaya with the rapping also extraordinary. The camera work is superb with little slumdogs jumping from atop the roofs into the maze of Dharavi and the police constable desperately chasing them.But with these and a few other moments of brilliance the movie seems a good movie,not a brilliant movie which IMDB rates with an astounding score
of 8.7 at 34 all time great,better than movies like Apocalypse Now or Requeim for a Dream!.

Saurabh Shukla does justice to a regular fat police constable but again the language seems out of place. Maybe because its a little difficult to imagine Desi brownies speaking the gorra language with non chalance. Afterall movies like Blood Diamond and other Africa based movies dont seem awkward as we don't really know how a black native african would look like speaking his own language and how different it will be to speaking English.But the moment you see,no no hear Dev Patel and the thick British accent he speaks with, it starts to move from the uncomfortable to the dislike zone. When you make a movie of this repute ,you should take care of these finer details. Jamaal speaks English, I swollow that but where does the accent come from ???? Irrfan Khan had no scope in his role so I wont talk about him. Anil Kapoor playing the host of the game show came across as a dark conceited person which was exactly what he was supposed to. But at places he overdid his bit like the scene where Jamaal walks into the show and Prem mocks him for being a chai wala.
The explanations for knowing the answers seem a little laughable and it seemed as if the scenes of riots, children forced to beg, and prostitution had to be included for the sake of an audience which wants to see this and will appreciate the movie only if you feed them what their stereotypes want them to see. Some have compared the movie to Cidade de Deus (City of Gods) which talks about the slums of Rio De Janerio but the comparison would be an insult to City of Gods. Why,you can understand only if you have seen City of Gods.
The movie should not be dumped as it has been by people like Priydarshan and the others for the director Danny Boyle did seem to make a genuine effort. He could not be successful is a different issue. None the less he gave us a decent movie and the world the music of Rahman at an unprecedented level.

Mozart Chocolates.....

I like watching theater. This is a hobby I acquired around 16 months back when I first came to Bangalore and started watching plays regularly at a well known City theater. In the past 16 months I have seen around 12-15 plays and now I can differentiate the two ends of the spectrum, a very good one from a very bad one. In between lies a complete panorama of theater on which I don't lay any claim of minutely appreciating.
Adding to the list of the middle spectrum I saw a play "Mozart Chocolates" recently which on certain aspects was on the one end and and in some aspects on the other end. There is also a small faux pas which happened while waiting for the play to start which I would like to mention for memory's sake.
I reached the theater a good half hour early and was seated at the first row from where I could even count the facial hair of the actors. This lady (in her sixties probably) politely asks me adjust a little ( scooch is the word for the urban junta) and sits just next to me. She had a heavy bengali accent and was talking to her acquaintances in bengali, one of whom was a Prahlad Kakkar Lookalike. I was muttering to the friend of mine with whom I had gone for the play wether it was a wise decision to watch this play while we could have done something more productive like talk and stuff. "Yaar, this looks like a very heavy play (in English) ". My friend replied something which before I could comprehend the lady asked me " What do you mean by a heavy play ?"
Slightly puzzled by the question I started thinking of a politically correct answer which should not offend her for she looked like a connosieur and was really looking forward to it , I supposed.
"Not Comical Ma'am"
"Well it has lighter moments"
"How would you know that Ma'am" ?
"Well I am the playwright"!
Some rattling followes.....
To show to her that I am not some first timer at a work of art ( I dont make any claims to otherwise) I start rambling on all the arsenal I had on Bengali movies and Literature.
" Well I follow a lot of Bengali movies and literature"
"Which is your favorite ?"
" The Apur Trilogy Ma'am and Charulatha are my favourites "
" I knew Satyajit Ray as a friend, a very charming person indeed. We Bengalis are very proud of him "
No knowing literature stuff anymore ......

The play was very good in bits with the "Lighter Moments" looking natural and humorous. There was a discussion around Post Modern and Post Colonial literature which I didnt really understand and the major part of the play was centered around the lead actress remembering her life's bygone years throgh the saris she bought at various times of her life.
The acting was generally good with a couple of misses here and there but considering the volume of monologues that's not something to take serious note of.
The play was a tad bit too long , I was shifting positions and could hear a lot of other people doing the same.
The lighting and music( minimal) were good and suited the setting of the play.
The one thing I didnt really understand was the audience. Most of the people were in their early twenties and there were some teenagers as well. I won't make any claims of knowing their following of theater but I somehow had this feeling that most of the people were there for the play ,any play for the matter , be it Mozart Chocolates or Alif Laila for that matter.
One teenager actually dozed off on his Mom/Aunt/very elder sister's shoulder during the early part of the play !!!!
I guess the play was for a select audience and I am sure they must have fully enjoyed it. As for me I did enjoy, if not the play my conversation with the playwright.

A more professional review can be read here